Setting up an “abandoned children’s haven” is aimed at helping children, not to encourage parents to abandon them, said an article in the 21st Century Business Herald (excerpts below).

Since the site was set up on Dec 10, the Nanjing children welfare home has received arrivals every day.

The “haven” is to ensure children’s safety, not to make it convenient for parents to abandon their children, the welfare home said. Similar havens have been set up in Shenzhen and Xi’an.

Many abandoned children in China have serious illnesses and parents who leave their children at the havens, in many cases, cannot afford to treat them.

The government needs to take action to help the parents diagnose why their children are ill and how to help them.

In cases where the families are too poor to look after them properly, the government must help them take care of the children.

Both the government and parents share responsibility to reduce the number of abandoned children.